This Generation (Matt. 24:34) = Jesus’s Generation
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory…Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt. 24:30-34).
Preterists[1] believe this statement clearly shows the Second Coming would happen within Jesus’s generation. After all, Jesus told his audience he would come again on clouds of glory within this generation.
However, some futurists[2] try to get around this straightforward interpretation by arguing “this generation” refers to whatever generation happens to be alive when Jesus comes (instead of the specific generation Jesus was addressing). It is that generation that would witness the events.
Response: First, if that’s really what Jesus meant, why didn’t he say “that generation” instead of “this generation”? It makes much more sense to interpret Jesus’s words as referring to his generation, not some future generation thousands of years away.
Moreover, all throughout the discourse, Jesus repeatedly used the second person plural “you”–not “they.” For example, Jesus told his disciples:
–“Do you [first-century disciples] not see all these things [the temple stones]?” (Matt. 24:2-3)
–“Take heed that no one deceives you” (v. 4)…”And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars” (v. 6)”
–“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (v. 9)
–“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation” (v. 15)
–“Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (v. 20)
–“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There’ do not believe it” (v. 23)
–“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out” (v. 26)
–“When you see all these things, know that it is near” (v. 33)
–“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (v. 34)
Jesus obviously expected his first-century audience to witness these events!
Second, there is no way to separate the destruction of the temple–which everyone agrees happened in AD 70–from “all these things” (Matt. 24:34), at least not without twisting Jesus’s words into a pretzel. And one of “all these things” was Jesus’s coming on clouds (v. 30)! Therefore, Jesus’s Second Coming must have happened by AD 70 too.
Third, every time “this generation” is used in the New Testament, it means–without exception–the generation to whom Jesus was speaking.[3] For example, when condemning the Pharisees and lawyers of his day, Jesus said: “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation” (Luke 7:30–31, bolding). Jesus was clearly referring to the Pharisees and lawyers of his day! In another passage, after calling the scribes and Pharisees (in the first century) everything from hypocrites to whitewashed tombs to broods of vipers, Jesus then threatened them with a severe judgment and added: “Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:31–36, bolding mine). Clearly, Jesus was threatening the scribes and Pharisees of his day! At another time, after the Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign, Jesus replied:
“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here” (Matt. 12:38–41, bolding mine).
There is only one generation this could possibly refer to: the generation that witnessed Jesus’s resurrection (in the first century)!
All throughout the New Testament, “this generation” consistently refers to the contemporaries of Jesus. Theologian R. C. Sproul said, “Apart from the use of this word genea (‘generation’) that we find in the Olivet Discourse, there are 38 other references to this word in the New Testament. And every one of them refers to a contemporary group of people that were then alive.”[4] Theologian Kenneth Gentry once quipped: “As strange as it may seem…this generation means this generation.”[5]
How long is a biblical generation, you may be wondering? We don’t have to speculate about this because the Bible tells us: forty years! Consider a passage from Hebrews: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation” (Heb. 3:8–10, bolding mine; see also Num. 14:30–34 and Neh. 9:21). A biblical generation is forty years.
This time frame fits perfectly with Jesus in AD 30 predicting “all these things”–including the destruction of the temple and Jesus coming on clouds–would happen within a generation (Matt. 24:2–34)…and the temple being destroyed in AD 70. Note: a “coming of the Lord” refers to judgment. There are plenty of examples of this all throughout the Old Testament (Isa. 19:1, 13:9–13, Ezek. 32:7–8, 15). See my article “What is a Coming of the Lord?” for more about this topic.
This Generation = This Race?
Another way some commentators try to get around Jesus’s plain words in Matthew 24:34–in which he said he’d come again within his generation–is by arguing “this generation” means “this race.” So when Jesus said “this generation will not pass away until I come” (Matt. 24:34, paraphrase), he actually meant “this race (the Jews) will not pass away until I come.”
Response: First, is the Jewish race really going to pass away when Jesus comes? That would make no sense!
Second, “the Greek word for ‘race’ [genos] is not used in Matthew 24:34. The passage uses the word genea, which means ‘generation.'”[6] That’s why over fifty Bible versions translate it as “generation”–not “race” (see BibleGateway.com).
Consider another passage that uses the Greek word genea. Matthew 1:17 says, “All the generations [geneai] from Abraham to David are fourteen generations [geneai], from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations [geneai], and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” Genea clearly means “generation,” not “race.” And that is what Jesus meant in Matthew 24:34 too!
This Generation = Mind Frame?
Still another way some commentators try to get around Jesus’s plain words in Matthew 24:34 is by arguing “this generation” refers to a mind frame (as opposed to a time frame). In other words, “this generation” refers to a particular type of people, namely, all unbelievers throughout history. It is this wicked generation that will one day see Jesus coming on clouds of glory, we are told.
However, this argument does not work either. While it is linguistically possible that “this generation” could refer to “mind frame” in the right context, nevertheless, Sproul rightly points out that “the exegetical and linguistic evidence against it [in Matthew 24:34] is overwhelming, and one would have to have a compelling reason to interpret the phrase ‘this generation’ in other than the ordinary usage of the term.”[7] The “ordinary usage” of the term is “the contemporaries of Jesus’s day.” This is the ordinary definition of “this generation” all throughout the New Testament, and there is no biblical evidence to suggest it means anything different in this case…especially when the ordinary usage fits the context and history so perfectly. The only reason futurists suggest “this generation” refers to a mind frame instead of a time frame is because they are trying to get around Jesus’s promise to come again within his generation.
Jesus Said the Same Thing in Many Other Ways
One final point to consider. Jesus not only said he would come again within “this generation”; he also said the same thing in many other ways. For example, Jesus said, “There are some standing here [in the first century] who shall not taste death [die] until they the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). He also told his apostles, “You will not have gone through [preaching throughout] the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matt. 10:23). He also told the Sanhedrin that they would see him coming on clouds (Matt. 26:64). Aren’t these passages all essentially saying the same thing…that Jesus would come again within the lifetimes of his audiences?
It is crystal clear what Jesus meant by “this generation” in Matthew 24:34–at least to those who want to see it!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled…available Summer 2024.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 8/3/24
[1] Preterists believe the Second Coming happened in AD 70 based on passages such as Matthew 16:28, 10:23, 24:30–34, 26:64; and Rev. 22:7
[2] Futurists believe the Second Coming is future event
[3] Gary DeMar, End Times Fiction, 68
[4] R. C. Sproul, “This Generation: The Last Days According to Jesus with R.C. Sproul,” Sept. 9, 2019, YouTube video, 21:00. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Db2l1OyjU1s.
[5] Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., Olivet Discourse Made Easy (Draper, VA: Apologetics Group Media, 2010), 58.
[6] DeMar, End Times Fiction, 223
[7] R. C. Sproul, “This Generation: The Last Days According to Jesus with R. C.
Sproul,” Sept. 9, 2019, YouTube video, 21:00, viewed Sept. 3, 2023. https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=Db2l1OyjU1s.
